Melodrama in Mexico in The middle of March...

[lmhall2000]

Have a fabulous trip. We sail on the Wonder on the 20th. We are also only doing one excursion, the Dolphin swim in PV.

I have a friend who is doing a missions trip in June, to a small town close to Tijuana. Praying that she and the others will be safe.

Will pray! Our church used to go to Reynosa every year, but the violence has become too unpredictable...those families in that region need help!

Well, the melodrama begins....today Southern California is under alert for Tsunami conditions. Japan apparently hit pretty badly, praying that it's short-lived and they all can continue...praying this will mean calm waters....maybe the tsunami will clear out the waves for us...trying to think positively.

Found my lost passport, sigh...paid bills, have about 5000 other things to do, okay about 13 but it's still a lot in 24 hours!

I am becoming adept at multi-tasking..just little things push you over..had to pay a Kohls bill..realized it's due tomorrow, so went online, could not remember the right code..so it locked me out, so now I need to go into the store and pay..oh dear...it's nowhere near where I need to be today...just one more stop!

Excited about tomorrow, if we can get through today!!
Bon voyage and will report when we get home!
MomT

 

[QuiltTeddy]

The planning continues, just 35 days out!

Still not sure why we lose a full day at Cabo, a full day at Mazatlan and end up with 2 partial days at Cabo..with reports coming back from the first cruise, I had to cancel our tour with Sofie at Cabo-Outfitters..they were sooo nice and understanding, but still wish we could have taken their tour....


MomT

Not sure if your itinery was the same as ours, but we were never supposed to have a full day at Cabo (it was a 5 hour stop), so the second day on the way back is nice because we can do more.

Have a great trip!

 

[cmwade77]

Just so that everyone knows, we live in Long Beach and all is fine. This thread was the first that I heard we were on a tsunami watch.

I hope all that live in Hawaii and those on the Wonder right now are ok.

 

[lmhall2000]

I did tell you there would be melodrama! We have made it to our hotel, the Crown plaza at the port! Here's how we got here!

Packing was nonstop chaos...trying to pack all the necessities, do six loads of laundry, get the house cleaned...honestly, the morning of I begin to think if it is all worth the madness.

Hay was to be delivered, our barn was bone dry...our hay man assured me he would be at our barn before we left...well, no...I could have panicked, but that little optimist in me said, no biggie, he is an able man, surely he can manage to get in without me and haul it up...and he did! See, no reason to fret.

On the way to the airport, my husband's phone kept dingin him, yep, it was Delta. Every five minutes on the way to pick up our seventh passenger and then on to the airport we had ding. Flight was to leave at one, now we are getting updates that it will be fifteen minutes delayed, thirty minutes delayed, forty seven minutes delayed...the problem is they assured me when they switched us to this flight we would make our connection.

With only forty five minutes to make our connection at one, I knew we were needing a new plan. I had only asked my Grumpy ...aka dh....to do me one favor this trip....no negative sky is falling...now for some people they would view his take on happenings as realism, but I am such an optimist that it rubs off the cliff fatalism to me. So with every ding I can tell my husband is trying his hardest to not say a word...I appreciate that restraint!

We get to the airport and I race to the counter hoping to get us on the flight just now leaving...no luck..the amazing Delta rep sees my predicament...he says we will not make our flight and starts giving me options to fix it. One...split up our party on two flights. I work it out in my head and think this could work, not ideal..but we would get to LAX. Two....send us to another airport...then my mind tries to think if our prearranged shuttle could manage this. Oh, and I overhear Jim talking about why our flight is late...he is mentioning a 'pilot issue'...sounded like a pilot with an alcohol condition...so I am really happy they were working hard to find another one!

I keep my head in a positive set and refuse to indulge in melodrama ...then he finds a third option..put seven of us in first class and one in coach...


Now who do you think got the coach?

 

[cmwade77]

If it is to be fair Jim, sorry but the pessimists deserve coach.

 

[lmhall2000]

Pessimism wins! Grumpy was chivalrous and took coach for the team! The gentleman next to me was a great conversationalist, perhaps the seven Bloody Marys helped him.

On to the melodrama, I have to admit I never remembered LAX being so filthy! The minute (oh wait, I should add the caddy arrogant dialogue our six children passengers encountered trying to make it up to get on the plane...you see, I had all the tickets with me so we would not lose any, and we had all our luggage to put in that overhead..so when they called for our group to board, there were many with later boarding cards blocking the way, I made it through but they would not let our kids through...so I signaled them to come through and as they tried they received a few snarky comments about how that was only for first class..the kids were rather alarmed at the rudeness..I can only imagine their condition when they saw all these kids sitting in the first rows being served..I could care less about the attention, but the legroom was a treat!)
we walked into our terminal, my lungs started hurting, construction everywhere...not the LAX I recalled. We get outside and lungs still hurt, I thought smog had improved...but it turned out there had been a bomb scare and they had closed all the nicer parts so planes were diverted to all the gates under construction. This meant our poor shuttle driver had to make it through six lanes of congested traffic to get us, bc the bomb scare had them funnel those six lanes to one!

Finally, out of the airport, shuttle was great! $85 for all 8 of us...a big shout out to MastersLimo! I have to add we loved the Crown Plaza! Check in was great, even though we paid through Priceline they still gave us double beds and non-smoking and the front desk guy was shocked at our rate, he said the rate is $220 a night and we got a great deal at $65 a night...I would never pay that high rate but we found it to be a great hotel and within a nice safe stroll we hit a Rite Aid for razors, detergent, and breakfast the next day...we were all tired since we lost an hour with the time change, springing forward and arriving in LA after midnight...but whether cursed or blessed, I always wake up at five am no matter the time zone...yuck. I let the rest sleep while I made the run for sundries and breakfast, saw a few homeless men, wanted to buy some of them breakfast but as I said greetings while passing, I soon realized they were most likely not present of mind...having sold a schizophrenic medication in my former career it just made me feel helpless for their state.

Teaser...did we try for an upgrade?

 

[LuvEeyore]

Signing on...hope you are having a great trip.

My one flight story...we were susposed to leave at 7:15am pre 9/11 and onlylived 10 minutes from the airport. Arrived at the airport at 6:30 to check in to find they were holding a 6:25am flight. Had planned to be on a jet, Ended up with a puddle jumper. Ended up in Baltimore running to meet the connection. Got to the plane with 2 minutes to spare to board. We were in first class!!!

Trips never go as planned. Sometimes the adventure is fun!!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Teaser...did we try for an upgrade?


I hope so and I hope you got it!!!

 

[MAJPLO]

We will be staying at the Crowne Plaza also through Priceline. We didn't get as good a deal as you did, but we were pretty happy with $85 for one night. My question is, even though you booked through Priceline, do you still get to leave your car there for the whole week?

 

[lmhall2000]

We will be staying at the Crowne Plaza also through Priceline. We didn't get as good a deal as you did, but we were pretty happy with $85 for one night. My question is, even though you booked through Priceline, do you still get to leave your car there for the whole week?

I would bet they would, they were so accommodating and so friendly! Tip on the shower, let it run for a good long time, our kids thought it had only cold water, but the fourth in the shower had very hot water the whole time and the sink hot water is very hot!
To get to good breakfast options, go out the restaurant entrance and head to your left, subway one block up and all others four blocks p on Gaffey street.

Yes, airport adventures are half the fun! The kids loved it! Grumpy was happy to let them experience it!

Alas, no upgrades! We are on a full ship, one family said they had boarding pass 43! We had been on the ship two hours and it seemed they were still calling names!

We had boarding pass five and were on quickly, starting a bit before noon.

Next update...the ship!

 

[lmhall2000]

All were excited and ready to board! Disney does it right, all workers at the port were phenomenal, so helpful and genuinely happy to help in our experience. Even forgiving me when I took a picture of the girls inside the terminal..yes, I missed all those signs! And even forgave my impulse to pet the police sniff dog...I am hopeless in things like that.

Once on the ship, we enjoyed eating at Beach Blanket outside...really good food! And the weather was wonderful. By one thirty our room was ready...kind of concerned with the size of the room...but should not have it is really roomy in this sideways configuration! Our room server is very personable..just not very detail oriented. We have four teen girls in one room who all have long hair..they ran out of shampoo on the second day and had to borrow ours...being so friendly, I thought I would ask him to please leave them extra shampoo..he said fine, but alas, they did not get any, and we did not get any. Otherwise, he is very nice!

Servers for dining...had heard a bunch of bad reviews..lowered my expectations...but, perhaps not quite enough. Our main server has to be very new...just has not had time to get the nuances down that make for a fluid experience. Little things just add up...no drink orders before giving dinner orders, two nights in a row of waiting an hour to hour and a half for main course...tonight our meal came after they started the show for Animators Palette....most already had their desserts and we are still waiting for food. Another diser came up and asked if we had gotten our food yet, they, too had a long wait the night before...but we trumped her again and win the award for being the last table two nights in a row to get our meals...we are the first to be in the restaurant and last to be served, grumpy and I just skipped dessert...our server did apologize tonight..and trying to quell my grumpys inclination to wax sarcastic at the horrendous service...I let the truth be known...I said I completely understand an off night, but two nights in a row of getting our main meal at a quarter to ten o'clock is not acceptable...that caused a visit from the main dining server and the chef..I appreciate their attempts...their focus was on a problem in the kitchen but when I said the bigger issue is two nights in a row, they kind of got the picture that it was a server inconsistency...grumpy had a glass taken for a refill...guess they no longer give you new glasses, just take yours and return it filled..but grumpy never received his beverage...not really liking this because what if they mix up the glasses with someone elses..we noticed grumpys glass never made it back, but the other table he was serving got a coke...just hoping it was not dhs glass. It should improve and our server does try..it is just not Disney standard...more feels like a restaurants first run night...

Cabo was nice! Perfect weather..we took a water taxi to Medano beach and walked it back..we were probably approached forty five times by peddlers and vendors...the first twenty times were fine and thanked them but towards the end..you just want to enjoy the area unapproached. Some are just better at ignoring them..I have a hard time doing that.

Some pluses...we see characters everywhere...and lines even with a full ship are not so bad! We have seen two to three each day at various spots across the ship...got our pillowcases signed and returned in two days! Love Clayton, the ships cruise director...I really think he is the best we have had so far! Had great comedians, Alfred and Seymour...a hoot and the whole family loved them! Really nice sailing..no bad waves...and perfect weather so far! Fish extenders gifts are amazing! I am so embarrassed to give out ours..in the rush of packing we just decided to finish them on board...to my dismay the medallions we made all stuck together and they are not quite the gift we had hoped....I am banning crafts next time...they undo me every time!

Tomorrow is Puerta Vallarta and our only planned excursion! I have managed three miles each day in the gym and love the showers there! Did rebook for the Fantasy and the price was actually LESS than what I found online or calling....so it does not look like a large price increase affected our eight D category...

Teens are doing good, no one has really clicked with anyone...heard the same thing from a few other families..there are just so many kids! I tell them just to jump in there...my nieces decided to stick together and do the college group...only six in there! They enjoy that...my girls and niece will be doing talent on Friday...I know they will love that.

Overall, I am so impressed with Disney, lovely staff from a friendly standpoint..just new CMs will need some time and encouragement.

 

[cmwade77]

Do you mean we aren't supposed to take photos in the terminal? We did in the waiting area on our two day cruise and no one said anything.

 

[lmhall2000]

Do you mean we aren't supposed to take photos in the terminal? We did in the waiting area on our two day cruise and no one said anything.

Ha! Yes, I thought I had been on a firing squad...I took a picture of my niece and this security guard came running at me shouting...No No No...she made me delete the photo while she watched and said no photos in the terminal...only on the ship! She was none too happy with me, I apologized profusely....and have no proof of the terminal..which was very nice!

 

[cmwade77]

Ha! Yes, I thought I had been on a firing squad...I took a picture of my niece and this security guard came running at me shouting...No No No...she made me delete the photo while she watched and said no photos in the terminal...only on the ship! She was none too happy with me, I apologized profusely....and have no proof of the terminal..which was very nice!

How strange, because i have seen numerous photos in the terminal posted on here.

 

[BigRed1]

Ha! Yes, I thought I had been on a firing squad...I took a picture of my niece and this security guard came running at me shouting...No No No...she made me delete the photo while she watched and said no photos in the terminal...only on the ship! She was none too happy with me, I apologized profusely....and have no proof of the terminal..which was very nice!

I have seen 3 or 4 pictures of the terminal on here, because I thought how un-Disney the terminal looked!

 

[PURTYPAT1]

LOL enjoying your report

 

[CopaDave]

Ha! Yes, I thought I had been on a firing squad...I took a picture of my niece and this security guard came running at me shouting...No No No...she made me delete the photo while she watched and said no photos in the terminal...only on the ship! She was none too happy with me, I apologized profusely....and have no proof of the terminal..which was very nice!

That security guard would have hated me. The only place in the terminal you cannot take photos is the security checkpoint and the Customs area. Everyplace else is fair game.

 

[lmhall2000]

That security guard would have hated me. The only place in the terminal you cannot take photos is the security checkpoint and the Customs area. Everyplace else is fair game.

Am I the only one that gets the evil eye and reprimand?? They even took me to 3 signs in the waiting area and said "NO PICTURES" until you leave the port waiting area..and they were right, signs posted all in the waiting area...alas, I did sneak a picture in..not sure how! But, pleasantly surprised it was not wiped off my camera by the pleasantly portly people!

Now, on to the cruise!! Service got much better, did I mention that my New York Strip had a pat of butter on top and there was no meltage going on at all? That's how cold/long we had to wait for food...Our server and his assistant just did not seem to get along...no banter, no conversation, no cutting up, they kept their roles entirely separate and it seemed a little awkward for us. We've only been on one other cruise and our servers then were a great team...kind of missed that.
But, we had a chance to make up for all of that by hitting Palo the night of Puerto Vallarta (why does the Puerto not match the ending of Vallarta? Aren't they supposed to agree in Spanish?)...our server was wonderful! Wish we could remember her name, but she was from one of the countries near Russia...too many to remember! The food, hey, I gotta admit, I was not 'floored', nor was I that impressed....it was okay. We are not 'foodies' but we have made it a point to hit nice restaurants about 10x in our marriage...each of those blew Palo away...I guess we were hoping for a memory like the others presented...we've lived in Atlanta, Seattle and Memphis, so not very big city upscale dining, but they have the goods on Palo. I was so looking forward to the chocolate souffle...it was bitter and I guess I just like a bit more sweetness to it...maybe if I'd poured more of that cream...but that wasn't really sweet, just creamish...
I had the filet...it was okay, not cooked med. rare like I asked...but I could only eat half of it, it just wasn't flavorful...not sure where they get their cuts from...okay, enough complaining...it was worth it to watch the sunset over the city...so I highly recommend those eating at Palo to plan it on a night where you are docked somewhere...I think it gives a much better ambiance than if you were moving on the ocean with nothing to set that beautiful sunset against....we had the perfect table for the sunset!! And, our server was a sweetie...so that was nice!

Now, Puerto Vallarta!! We felt this was by far an excursion worth the money! We had to find a taxi outside of the port...make sure you LEAVE the port before getting a taxi..they are much cheaper..they charged us $3 pp or 30 pesos (which actually is a deal)....and it was nice to drive through the resort area, very beautiful lush landscaping...(I love that!)..it was about a 10 minute ride to our stop...we went to the office and they had already started showing the video...and saw many from our cruise....FUN!

Our crew was put in one boat and we had Thalia as our guide...she is a marine biologist and a hoot...we really loved her...she knew a great deal! We set off and managed to see a momma humpback whale and her baby...they were within 10 feet from our boat at one point! So amazing!! We hung around there and watched them breech (see picture below) it was amazing! Then, Thalia had us leave them b/c she does not like too many boats crowding the whales and after that breech, you could see more coming.

We went to find pods of dolphins...we found at least 5 different sets and the girls jumped in the ocean to swim with them...it was a hoot b/c at first our girls were scared...then Thalia told them the dolphins were sensing their fear and they needed to calm down..so here are girls with wide eyes saying, "We're not scared, we're calm!" We were all laughing on the ship! At one point, we saw a pod of 5 dolphins swimming right for them, then they all disappeared..they had all swam UNDER the girls checking them out..they came out about 15 feet in front of them..it was pretty cool!!

They have a ladder you can climb back into the boat with, for some reason I just imagined the girls having to pull themselves back in! Another duh moment for me.

Enjoy the pictures!!

"Yeah, we're not scared!"

 

[lmhall2000]

So far, the melodrama has been limited to third parties (airline snafus)...but I would be remiss if I did not fess up to a couple of melodramas along the way.

One deals with a hairbrush and a room with 4 girls in it! Three of the girls (all shall remain nameless) have had experience having roommates at some time in their life, but one girl has always had a room to herself and thus might explain some of the spikes in dramatic moments early on...but she was adaptable and by mid-cruise she figured it out. One girl will not let another girl use her hairbrush unless said petitioiner takes a shower first...apparently the oils from the hair follicles would mean a de-oilification if first girl was ever to use it again.
Then, another girl...one who idolizes the first hairbrush scene girl...takes on a similar complaint...this 'other' girl allows the petitioner (somehow the petitioner can never find her own brush) to use her hairbrush but the petitioner places the handle of the hairbrush between her legs while she maneuvers a rubber band...this 'other' girl throws a drama moment (all trying to seem like first hairbrush girl drama) that she doesn't want her brush between anyone's legs...I remind this 'other' girl that her hairbrush has been in no man's land...a minivan 12 years old that has had dogs throw up in it, babies throw up in it, Christmas trees, countless happy meal crumbles, sauce packets, milkshakes..you name it..that van has had every form of carbon material known to man...and that brush has been LOST in that quagmire thousands of times...and she chooses this hill to die on?

The last and most unusual melodrama experienced (also in the room with 4 girls) had to deal with dirty laundry. I'll paint the scene and see if you have a problem with the logic...
Girl one takes a shower, meanwhile....girl two has been patiently waiting to use the restroom (didn't I mention it might be worth it to upgrade to split bathrooms?)...our bathroom also had a showerer in it...so girl two patiently waited...as soon as girl one comes out, girl two wants to go in but there is a very disconcerting pile of objects on the floor...specifically undergarments and clothing left behind....a squeal of 'ewww' and a look of "do I have to step on those to use the restroom" plea came my way...I, being the mediator....thought I would make a reasonable request for all girls to make sure they take their clothing with them when they leave the bathroom after showers....this brought out a squeal of protest from girl one (who has been changing behind the curtain near the bed area)..."I CAN'T pick up my dirty clothes, I'm clean!!!" I then questioned at what point would she be reasonably 'dirty' again so that she could pick up her leftbehinds? My father was right, I should have made her pick them up with her teeth!


Thankfully, hairbrushes and undergarments were the height of the melodrama....but enough to give me a few eyerolls!

Overall, I was really proud of all the girls...put 4 girls in any room, and there will be memories!

I am happy to report that Mexico has the nicest guards with machine guns to protect us at the port..what was I worried about???

 

[lmhall2000]

Well, we had some interesting things happen on our trip to Cabo! My dh (Grumpy) chose to stay on the ship BOTH Cabo days! Happy that he had no choice with Puerto Vallarta...I had already paid for the excursion, you mention "paid" and he feels committed! But, he has worked his tail off this last year and if he wants to enjoy a quiet ship...he gets to without too much urging from me

So, here I get off and after knowing the tricks to finding the cheaper water taxis from day one..I am on a mission...I have 6 kids with me and we're going to make a beach day out of this! Oh wait, ds also decided to stay on the ship, one day at Cabo was enough for him....ah c'est la vie! So, I had 5 with me..people are starting to call me "Mamacita" and "Mrs. Brady"...I quickly learned how to say "Mamacita es muy pobre, no gracias." So many calling out rates at you, or trying to sell you bracelets, dresses, sunglasses, carvings..oh it just never ended..I was very kind and smiled..but you get to the point of head spinning as often as you hear their sales pitch...

I snag a great guy who took us over for 100 pesos for all 6 of us...that is 1/3 less than I paid the previous stop...so mamacita es muy bueno at securing transportation efficiently! I was very grateful so of course tipped him extra....why do I even find deals? I still end up spending it all!

We headed to the beach..enquired about a jet ski (have never been on one, but then I saw all the traffic...boats/jet skis/yachts/swimmers etc..and voted against it...maybe next time) but he did start out at $55 a half hour and before I left him, he was saying $35..so there is wriggle room there!

Mamacita had remembered to get pool towels from the ship....we all laid out our towels, and I just enjoyed sitting on a beach, soaking up sun and watching the kids play...Within an hour we probably had over 30 peddlers ask us to look at their wares....again, just a wee bit tired..but one gentleman had amazing carvings...I had been trying to think of something to get my ds as a takeaway gift...he never wants/asks for anything. This man had a great bear with a salmon in his mouth and I was interested....he said he had more carvings and brought them back to us...within 10 minutes we had talked up his works and 3 sets of families bought from him....I half-heartedly joked that he should give me a discount for the additional purchases I facilitated...he smiled...and indeed, he did give me a free turtle for my help! Wow! What a dear!! That turtle now sits proudly on our bookshelf...a reminder of all those peddlers I said "no" to..and the one we may have helped that day....we also got the bear and a dolphin...mamacita es muy pobre a hora

I will add, it was kinda hard to get pictures without getting a peddler in it! But, atleast this picture was of the man we had just admired works of..nice to have him in there!

Oh wait, there was a bit of melodrama on this stop...girl one and girl two wanted to shop for a dress (I split all remaining pesos between the kids) and told them we needed to be on the ship for the last boat....5 minutes tops! Well, I stuck with the other kids and we all were outside the market with our purchases but G1G2 were nowhere..sent G3 in to get them...they were haggling and the guy wouldn't budge...I told her I was going to get in line, b/c now the line to get back into ship area was wrapping around!! They had over 25 minutes and we just had to get back in line...we are about to show our room cards and they're still not here...getting worried mamacita might have to run in there and pull them out by their ears! They come and G1 got her dress, but G2 said she didn't have time to buy anything...???? Just not sure with teens how "you have 5 minutes to spend the money" can be translated into "I can dawdle all day and take my time" We managed to get on the boat, and I do believe it was the last one!! A bit toooo close for my liking Well, at least G2 has pesos to take home

Overall, Cabo was nice, I still prefer Gulf Coast Beaches as far as beauty and soft sands...but just hanging out in the warmth and seeing the kids enjoy the water was great!!